


V'Han Returns

by segerge



Series: TASK FORCE [47]
Category: HERO Champions
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 11:45:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6609487
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/segerge/pseuds/segerge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(2007) In an alternate history where Istvatha V'Han kept Starforce from saving Ladyhawk in 'The City That VIPER Built', our heroes struggle to correct the flow of history</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Before

#### DRAMATIS PERSONAE

**heroes**

  * Julie Dormyer Hawkins (AKA Ladyhawk), Chairman of the Board of Directors for ProStar
  * Dr. Bob Hawkins (AKA Starforce), Senior Research Scientist for ProStar
  * LGEN Theodore Jameson, Jr. (AKA Ranger), Director of PRIMUS



**villains**

  * Tempus Carlson (AKA Captain Chronos), Time-elemental from the 60th century



**others**

  * Alexander Shumeykin, Major, Central Asian Space Force, Director of UNTIL's Project Citadel



**AUTHOR'S NOTE 1** : Telepathy is denoted by (( )), internal monologue by [[ ]]

* * *

(outside Secure Conference Room 1, PRIMUS HQ, Washington DC)

(Bob 'Starforce' Hawkins is outside Secure Conference Room 1, on the phone with Julie 'Ladyhawk' Hawkins)

 **Starforce** : "Did Ted tell *you* why he wanted me here?"

 **Ladyhawk** (over the phone): "No! I thought he would have said something once you were there..."

 **Starforce** : "He's tied up with some hotshot from UNTIL right now. All I know for certain is that the briefing's classified."

(Ted 'Ranger' Jameson rounds the corner at the far end of the hall. He appears to be talking with the man who is accompanying him)

 **Starforce** : "Speak of the Devil. He just showed up with someone."

 **Ladyhawk** (over the phone): "You better shut your phone down and get in there."

 **Starforce** : "Yes, MA'AM! Love you, Ninjette."

 **Ladyhawk** (over the phone): "Try not to blow DC up, Nerd-boy."

 **Starforce** : "You KNOW what happens every time you say that, don't you?"

(they both laugh)

 **Starforce** : "Bye."

 **Ladyhawk** (sultry, over the phone): "Love you."

(the call disconnects, and Bob shuts his phone off before walking through the 'airlock' into the conference room. By the time he's found a seat, a Major in the Central Asian Space Force enters the conference room with Ted, discussing something animatedly in Russian with him)

(The Major makes eye contact with Bob and freezes in the doorway)

 **Major** (to Ted, indicating Bob): "Chto on zdes' delayet?" /* What is *he* doing here? */

 **Ranger** : "ProStar yavlyayetsya osnovnym podryadchikom po podderzhke PRIMUS. Doktor Khokins yavlyayetsya ikh rukovoditel' proyekta." /* ProStar is a primary support contractor for PRIMUS. Dr. Hawkins is their project lead.*/

(tense pause)

 **Ranger** (to the Major): "Podumayte ob etom takim obrazom. Vy predpochli by Syn Razrushitelya v nashey palatke pisayet iz, ili za predelami nashey palatki znamenitoye v?" /* Think of it this way. Would you prefer the Son of Destroyer in our tent pissing out, or outside our tent pissing in? */

(beat, then the Major doubles over with laughter)

 **Starforce** : "Uh, Ted? I wasn't informed beforehand that this briefing would be in Russian."

 **Ranger** : "Sorry. Don't get to use it much anymore." (indicating the Major) "This is Alexander Shumeykin, former cosmonaut, expatriate Russian serving with Central Asia's Space Force, and for purposes of today's meeting UNTIL's director of Project Citadel."

 **Starforce** (beat): "Can't say that I'm familiar with that project."

 **Shumeykin** : "Project Citadel is the lead organization for coordinating our world's defense from future attacks of Istvatha V'Han, the Empress of a Billion Dimensions."

 **Starforce** : "Just so you know, Major, I personally remain unconvinced Istvatha V'Han is from another dimension. Our own universe is quite big enough to accomodate her empire without accepting her word for her origin."

 **Ranger** (annoyed, to Bob): "Remind me again where you pursued Baron Nihil when he abducted your children?" /* "Fields of Saguenay" */

 **Starforce** : "I am not denying the reality of other dimensions, Ted. I'm simply denying Istvatha V'Han's claim of what she represents."

 **Shumeykin** : "Do you have any basis for this belief, Dr. Hawkins?"

 **Starforce** : "If she truly commanded the forces of a billion dimensions, all the forces that opposed her in 1998 shouldn't even have amounted to a speed bump against her -- yet we defeated her. Something doesn't ring true about her claim."

 **Shumeykin** (to Bob): "For what it's worth, I have some advisors who agree with you."

 **Ranger** : "With the resources she WAS able to command, she still came too damn close to defeating us for comfort." 

**Shumeykin** : "Which is why we have been attempting to come up with a plan to allocate our resources better in the event she should invade our dimension again."

 **Ranger** : "The Champions were able to use asymmetric warfare tactics against her five years ago to prevent an invasion. Why can't we do that against her again?"

 **Shumeykin** : "Because that was five years ago." (beat) "Istvatha V'Han is not stupid."

(awkward pause)

 **Starforce** : "Okaaaay..."

 **Ranger** : "I hope we have a more robust strategy against her than that."

 **Shumeykin** : "Relax, General. UNTIL has good lines of communication with the more technically-minded superheroes available. The Japanese hero Tetsuronin, for instance, has several squadrons of artificial-intelligence drones controlling space fighters using propulsion technology developed by the American company ProStar."

 **Starforce** (muttered): "Well, that explains Geekfest last year..."

 **Shumeykin** : "Also, the Republic of Central Asia will be contributing a fleet of spacecraft capable of intercepting attackers farther out in our solar system."

 **Starforce** (not quite _sotto voce_ ): "Using electrogravitic tech *stolen* from ProStar."

 **Shumeykin** (annoyed): "As President Varinnikov would no doubt be saying right now, is it HIS fault that you Americans refuse to use your technology base to its fullest extent?"

 **Starforce** : "The institutional blindness of America's defense industry is... painful to experience first-hand. Especially when there has been no excuse for it for nearly five decades."

(the major smiles briefly)

 **Ranger** : "Could we set up a line of defense around the Earth at the Moon's orbit?"

 **Shumeykin** : "We could, but that would require us to set up bases on the Moon or at either Earth-Moon Lagrange point solely to protect Earth Orbit."

 **Ranger** : "Why haven't we?"

 **Shumeykin** : "Several tech-based superheroes attempting to establish forward depots on the Moon have reported that someone or something already has bases at the Moon's north AND south poles."

 **Ranger** : "Oh?"

 **Shumeykin** : "In all cases reported so far, they report voice-only radio contact with something which calls itself 'The Benefactor.' The Benefactor appears to have extensive underground facilities at each pole, additionally surrounded by a force dome."

 **Ranger** : "Is this 'Benefactor' a threat?"

 **Shumeykin** : "So far, no. In the first few cases reported, the Benefactor is reported to have sounded almost apologetic for already being there. They have offered to provide secure warehousing underneath its force dome for whatever equipment the hero has wanted to pre-position."

 **Ranger** : "Has anyone accepted?"

 **Shumeykin** : "Yes. The Benefactor even allows heroes to inspect their depots, and only asks for enough warning to lower the force dome to allow them access."

(Ted notices that Bob has been keeping his mouth covered throughout this part of the briefing. The crinkling around his eyes suggest he is hiding a smile)

 **Ranger** (internal monologue): [[I think I already know who the Benefactor is...]] (verbally) "Has any attempt been made to co-ordinate planetary defense with the Benefactor?"

 **Shumeykin** : "Several times. The Benefactor has consistently refused all attempts to reach out to him." (beat) "UNTIL has trouble believing in the Benefactor's good intentions if they won't talk with us."

 **Starforce** (deadpan): "I'm sure they have their reasons for not wanting to talk to UNTIL."

 **Shumeykin** : "It is in the Benefactor's best interest to contact my office so *all* our forces don't suffer a repeat of what happened the first weeks of the 1998 invasion."

 **Starforce** : "So the UN knows whose name to insert into the Security Council Resolution calling for their capture, dead or alive?"

(VERY awkward pause)

 **Shumeykin** : "Dr. Hawkins, your efforts were not unappreciated in def..."

 **Starforce** (exploding): "UNAPPRECIATED?!?"

(everyone else in the conference rooom recoils)

 **Starforce** (angry): "UNTIL ROLLED TANKS TO DORMYER MANOR WHILE I WAS KEEPING HER FLEET AWAY FROM EARTH!! The ONLY reason they didn't take me into custody or KILL me that day was because the Varanyi were establishing their embassy when THEY arrived!" (venomously, sitting down) "Spare me your organization's 'appreciation'."

(awkward pause)

 **Shumeykin** : "Dr. Hawkins, I am not sure what I can say or do to make up for what you have suffered in the past."

 **Starforce** (over steepled fingers): "Neither am I."

* * *

(PRIMUS HQ. Fifteen minutes later)

(Bob follows Ted into the elevator as Ted punches the button for the Lobby Level. The elevator starts moving, then Ted stops the elevator)

 **Starforce** (beat): "You know, I always thought that elevator meetings were dramatic license on the part of _NCIS_ 's writers..."

(he trails off as Ted fixes him with his best Gibbs interrogation stare)

 **Ranger** : "Is there something you need to tell me?"

 **Starforce** : "I should answer with something sarcastic, but that part of me died when the world put me under house arrest for the crime of being the son of Doctor Destroyer."

 **Ranger** : "And is *that* supposed to justify your behavior during the briefing just now?"

 **Starforce** : "I find it hard to get worked up over Istvatha V'Han when PRIMUS explicitly asked me not to help, the President used me as a pawn to troll her, and UNTIL had orders to bring me in dead or alive for the crime of DEFENDING MY FAMILY from her!" (beat) "Do you have any idea just how *deep* all that cut, Ted?"

(awkward pause)

 **Ranger** : "Bob, I can't speak for UNTIL or the Clinton Administration, but as director of PRIMUS I am *truly* sorry for how we treated you back in 1998. We should have sought your help out and done more to keep UNTIL away from you."

(Bob looks into Ted's eyes)

 **Starforce** : "Apology accepted."

 **Ranger** (nodding): "Now tell me what you're doing at the Lunar North and South poles."

(tense pause)

 **Starforce** : "Was it *that* obvious that I'm the Benefactor?"

 **Ranger** : "The portal generator under Dormyer Manor has a two light-second range and you have to enter its room through an airlock. The ONLY reason you would have built it that way is if you expected to be going to the Moon with it."

 **Starforce** : "How long have you known?"

 **Ranger** : "Fifteen minutes. The clues were there, but I didn't put them together correctly until I saw you barely restraining yourself from laughing when the Major went through that part of his briefing."

 **Starforce** : "Julie keeps telling me that I need a better poker face."

 **Ranger** : "So what do you have at the poles?"

 **Starforce** : "The major already described the protected depots I maintain semi-anonymously for other heros. Beyond that, each base has an arsenal of long-range FTL missiles with an engagement range of 10 astronomical units and a short-range relativistic railgun."

(shocked pause)

 **Starforce** (continuing): "I've been busy for a few years..."

 **Ranger** (shocked): "I'm trying to figure out why you HAVEN'T taken over the world with an arsenal like that!"

 **Starforce** : "Other than my step-parents will come back from the dead to haunt me? The missiles are hard-wired to not accept any target within the orbit of the Moon, and the railgun is hardwired to not accept any target within a degree of Earth's position in the local sky."

(Ted looks at Bob in amazement)

 **Starforce** : "Why are you looking at me like that?"

 **Ranger** : "You anticipated that you couldn't trust yourself with that type of power!"

 **Starforce** : "No, I can't trust anyone ELSE with that type of power." (beat) "I'd like to turn those bases over to American control someday, and I feel better about myself for having those safeguards in place when that day hap..."

(beat, then Ted registers that Bob cut off his sentence rather oddly. He looks around the elevator, and discovers that Bob is missing.)

 **Ranger** : "What the..."

 **Voice** : "You have bigger problems on your hands right now, General Jameson."

(Ted ALSO registers that the elevator is moving again. He looks around, and is now accompanied by a man dressed in a funny-looking silver lamé jumpsuit and Tara 'Lady Blue' Lemick)

 **Ranger** : "Captain Chronos!"

 **Captain Chronos** : "Behold what Istvatha V'Han is attepting to do to conquer your dimension."

(the elevator doors open. Ted sees banners hanging in the lobby of PRIMUS HQ bearing the horned-demon dog logo of the Empress of a Billion Dimensions)

 **Captain Chronos** : "You might want to do something about this before the multiverse is irrepairably damaged."

* * *

(to be continued)


	2. During

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warnings** : Forced drowning, sex, language (including one precision F-strike)
> 
> * * *
> 
> #### DRAMATIS PERSONAE
> 
> **heroes**
> 
>   * LGEN Theodore Jameson, Jr. (AKA Ranger), Director of PRIMUS
>   * Julie Dormyer Hawkins (AKA Ladyhawk), Chairman of the Board of Directors for ProStar
> 

> 
> **villains**
> 
>   * Bob Hawkins (AKA Starforce), former powered-armor superhero
>   * Clint Stanton, CEO of PowerStroke Industries and agent of VIPER in Dayton, OH
>   * Istvatha V'Han, self-styled Empress of a Billion Dimensions
>   * Tempus Carlson (AKA Captain Chronos), Time-elemental from the 60th century
>   * Dr. Tara Lemick (AKA Lady Blue), power-armor wearer/social justice warrior
> 

> 
> **others**
> 
>   * Shina Arikawa, butler/chauffer/bodyguard for Julie Dormyer Hawkins (her 'Alfred')
> 

> 
> **AUTHOR'S NOTE 1** : Telepathy is denoted by (( )), internal monologue by [[ ]]
> 
>  **AUTHOR'S NOTE 2** : Some knowledge of the story 'The City That VIPER Built' is helpful to understand the Prologue, climax, and Point of Departure
> 
> * * *

**PROLOGUE** : Above Dayton, OH. After sunset, sometime in September 1990. /* during "The City That VIPER Built" */

(Dropping back through the sound barrier, Starforce slows down 10,000 feet over the suburb of Oakwood)

 **Starforce** (to himself): "C'mon Julie, where are you?"

(the sensor cues in his mask suddenly point down, then behind)

 **Starforce** (to himself): "CRAP! Passed her..."

(he doubles back on his previous course with a maneuver that would have snapped the spine of anyone not using electrogravitics as flight)

 **Starforce** : "THAT house?"

(the sensor cues zoom in on the pool in back of a large mansion. Starforce circles it, losing altitude)

 **Starforce** : "In the pool... UNDERWATER!!!"

(he jackknifes into a power dive and goes to full acceleration)

 **Starforce** : "No no no NO NO...."

(he registers a familiar-looking male at the pool's edge with a video camera, who appears to be recording Julie 'Ladyhawk' Dormyer struggling on the bottom of the pool)

 **Starforce** (snarling): "I'll deal with you after I save her..."

(from the trees in the back property line, a 20d6 dimensional destabilization blast hits him for 30 STUN, CON-stunning him three seconds before he would have entered the pool. As he recovers from that a second before impact, another blast spears into the sky, hitting something airborne far behind him. His impact with the ground is illuminated by the fireball of the PRIMUS Gulfstream carrying the Golden Avenger and the rest of TASK FORCE)

(the world slowly comes back into focus for Starforce. Clint Stanton is staring at him, a gleeful sneer on his face)

 **Clint** (sweeping his hand over the pool): "You're here for Julie Dormyer?"

(Starforce crawls over to the edge of the pool. Julie's body is draped over ropes and weights 10 feet underwater, motionless)

 **Clint** (smugly): "You're too late. By several minutes."

(something snaps inside of Starforce. Levitating, he aims an arm at Clint, forcebeams building to discharge. There is a mad snarl across his face)

 **Clint** : "You and I both know that you won't take that shot! You're a hero..."

 **Starforce** (firing): "Not any more."

(behind her chameleon blind 20 meters away, Istvatha V'Han smiles)

* * *

(Stronghold Federal Penitentiary, NM. The year is 2007, same day as the briefing at PRIMUS in the original timeline)

(with a BUZZ, the outer gate opens. Bob Hawkins shuffles through to the outer world, escorted by a V'Hanian D-Soldier. He is visibly older, and so very broken)

 **Guard** : "You can wait out there until your ride comes."

 **Starforce** (dully): "All my friends are dead. No one's coming for me."

 **D-Soldier** : "In that case, there's a van that'll be leaving for Albuquerque in an hour. It will take you to a re-education center on the old Air Force Base."

 **Starforce** : "Why do I need to be re-educated?"

 **D-Soldier** : "A lot has changed since you were incarcerated."

 **Starforce** : "Not even the V'Hanian Empire would have use for a fallen hero."

 **D-Soldier** : "You might be surprised. At least give them a chance." (beat) "Security through loyalty! Prosperity through obedience! Peace and progress for all!"

 **Starforce** (turning around): "Whatever."

(Bob hasn't walked 10 feet before a late-model sedan glides to a stop silently in front of him. The window rolls down, and Bob's jaw drops in shock)

 **Ranger** : "Bob!"

 **Starforce** (beat): "You're dead! You were at Detroit when Destroyer shot Tlokon out of the sky..."

(a familiar bleach-blonde leans in front of Ted. Bob's jaw drops open in shock even more)

 **Lady Blue** : "Shut up and get in the car, Hoosier boy!"

* * *

(I-25 north, between Socorro and Albuquerque, NM)

(Ted is driving the car. Captain Chronos, Lady Blue, and Bob are the passengers)

 **Starforce** : "Tara, you and Ted were in Detroit when Tlokon's flagship destroyed it in 1992!"

 **Lady Blue** : "In your timeline."

(tense pause)

 **Starforce** : "You and Ted are from *another* timeline?"

 **Ranger** : "As near as we can understand from Captain Chronos here..." (gestures towards Captain Chronos riding shotgun in the front seat of the sedan, continuing) "Our timeline is the original direction history was supposed to take."

 **Starforce** (beat): "What was supposed to happen?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "In our history, you saved Ladyhawk at Dayton in 1990 The two of you killed Tlokon on the Varanyi homeworld in 1992 before he could launch his second invasion attempt on Earth, and got married when you returned to Earth later that year."

 **Ranger** : "In our 2007, you and Julie have four children. Nathan, Laura, and the twins, James and Jillian."

(beat, then Bob collapses in tears)

 **Lady Blue** (to Ted): "Maybe we shouldn't have told him that?"

(long pause while Bob cries)

 **Starforce** (sobbing): "Who was responsible for changing history like that?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "Istvatha V'Han."

 **Starforce** (beat): "Why?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "Without you killing Tlokon the Usurper on Varan in June of 1992, the Varanyi's invasion attempt against Earth arrives as Doctor Destroyer fires his Asteroid Scoop up to destroy the North American continent in July 1992." (beat) "Instead of faking his suicide by Zeta-beam, Destroyer dies a hero shooting Tlokon's flagship down over Detroit." /* "The Varanyi Civil War", "The Battle of Detroit" */

 **Ranger** : "Wait. Destroyer FAKED his suicide?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "FOCUS, General! Between the resistance of Earth's remaining superheroes and the Mandaarian's counterattack later that year, there is no resistance when V'Han opens her initial dimensional rift on Phobos in 1998."

 **Starforce** : "So if I hadn't been in Stronghold for destroying Dayton, I would have saved the Milky Way Galaxy?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "And our dimension."

 **Lady Blue** : "That makes the point of departure between his timeline and ours Dayton, Ohio, right?"

 **Ranger** : "During Julie's business trip while I was back on active duty for the First Gulf War. September of 1990, if I remember correctly."

(Bob is rocking in the back seat of the sedan, sobbing)

 **Lady Blue** : "So Istvatha V'Han can time-travel?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "Time is a dimension, Dr. Lemick. Remember that her primary power is dimensional travel..."

 **Lady Blue** (interrupting): "I get that, Future Man, I'm a scientist!" (beat) "Why didn't she use it in 1998?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "She didn't think she needed to. She knows better, now." (beat) "I have been VERY busy for months now blocking her attempts to change your history in her favor."

 **Ranger** (waving a hand toward the outside): "So this wasn't her first attempt?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "Only her most successful one to date. Last week, I stopped her from killing the Champions in 2001. Without their adventures in her empire in 2002, her 2002 invasion attempt on our reality would have happened on schedule."

 **Ranger** : "With our luck, probably right around the time Doctor Destroyer came back."

 **Captain Chronos** (muttering almost inaudibly): "If you only knew."

(Lady Blue's enhanced hearing picks this comment up. Her eyebrows climb her forehead)

 **Lady Blue** (internal monologue, shaking her head abruptly): [[Tara, FOCUS!]] (verbally) "How did you know this was going to happen?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "I didn't, until a friend of the General's contacted me."

 **Ranger** : "Which one?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "Reverend Kayami." (beat) "He can sense dimensional ripples."

 **Lady Blue** : "Convenient."

 **Ranger** (to Captain Chronos): "Why Lady Blue? Other than, like me, she doesn't exist in this timeline?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "She was in DC when history changed. I was kind of in a hurry at that moment, and beggars couldn't be choosers."

(Ted looks briefly over his shoulder at Tara in the back seat)

 **Lady Blue** : "What? I was casing some parties to rob."

 **Ranger** : "That's not why I was looking at you."

(awkward pause)

 **Lady Blue** : "You're looking at me because I was publicly advocating her social positions during her previous invasion, aren't you?"

 **Ranger** : "I remember Bob and Julie telling me how you attempted to convert him to your point of view back then."

 **Lady Blue** : "That was before she started dicking around with history." (beat) "I'm not even supposed to exist right now, same as you! How do you think that makes *me* feel?"

 **Ranger** : "Just wanting to know if we can count on you when we try to correct history."

(Tara looks at Bob, rocking almost catatonically in the seat next to her)

 **Lady Blue** : "I don't think I'm the one you need to be worrying about right now."

* * *

/* time to make the StarBlue shippers happy... */

(Room 113, Motel 6 Albuquerque Central Avenue East. That evening)

/* suggested music: [In the Air Tonight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mt0ee9FraQ) by Phil Collins */

(with a 'click' the motel room door unlocks. Tara enters, carrying a bag of Chinese food. Bob is sitting on the bed, his knees drawn up to his body)

 **Lady Blue** : "I know it's not Asia Palace but at least it smells good." (beat, drops the bag on the dresser next to the TV) "General Tso's, right?"

(Bob nods without looking at her)

 **Lady Blue** (crossly): "Hoosier boy, you can't hold the vertical fetal position all night. Get up and eat."

 **Starforce** : "I'm not hungry."

 **Lady Blue** : "I call bullshit."

(she sits down on the bed next to him. Bob continues not to look at her)

 **Lady Blue** (softly): "Is it true that you destroyed Dayton?"

(Bob nods)

 **Lady Blue** (continuing): "For the love of one woman?"

 **Starforce** (broken): "I was so convinced Julie was out of my league that I never could work up the courage to tell her how I truly felt." (beat) "Then VIPER finished the job they started with her parents."

(Tara puts an arm around him)

 **Lady Blue** : "If it makes you feel any better, she was just as in love with you as you were with her."

 **Starforce** : "She died before she could say that to me." (beat) "Before I could say that to her."

(Bob abruptly wheels on Tara)

 **Starforce** (angry): "Do you want to know just HOW insane unrequited love can make you, Tara? DO YOU?!?"

 **Lady Blue** : "Bob, calm down..."

 **Starforce** (calming down): "Oh, I *was* calm after I killed Clint Stanton for drowning Julie. Then I ransacked his mansion and discovered the sheer *size* of VIPER's presence in the Dayton area, and realized that I couldn't take it all out by myself. I took off to clear my head, and that's when I saw the crash site of the PRIMUS jet bringing the rest of TASK FORCE..."

(Bob stops his eerily-calm recitation of his personal history and swallows briefly. Tara's mouth is hanging open in shock)

 **Starforce** : "That's when I got inventive." (beat) "Do you know how to start a firestorm, Tara?"

(Tara wordlessly shakes her head)

 **Starforce** : "I do."

 **Lady Blue** (numb): "No..."

 **Starforce** : "It's a little difficult to get it self-sustaining, but not impossible if you're motivated and wearing a battlesuit." (beat) "I was told in later years that Dayton's funeral pyre could be seen as far away as Cincinnati."

(shocked pause, held gaze)

 **Lady Blue** : "How many?"

 **Starforce** : "Thirty thousand died by fire before PRIMUS and the Sentinels stopped me. Dayton was never rebuilt afterwards."

(the mad calm in his eyes suddenly floods with tears)

 **Starforce** (breaking down): "Thirty THOUSAND people..."

(she puts her other arm around him and rocks with him as he breaks down sobbing. Long pause, then a held gaze as Tara wipes some tears from his face)

 **Starforce** : "Why are you being nice to me?"

 **Lady Blue** : "Someone has to be."

(she starts to take Bob's t-shirt off)

 **Starforce** : "Tara? What are you doing?"

 **Lady Blue** : "You're overdressed. I'm correcting that."

(she finishes taking his shirt off and throws it off to one side)

 **Starforce** : "You're going to have sex with me?"

 **Lady Blue** (smiling, starting on his pants): "And now we see why you won the Nobel Prize in MY timeline..."

 **Starforce** : "Why?"

 **Lady Blue** (tossing his pants and underpants off to the side): "You detected and captured a magnetic monopole when you were in college. Remember?"

 **Starforce** : "That's not what I meant."

 **Lady Blue** : "The Bob Hawkins *I* knew would have made that joke in a heartbeat instead of letting me make it."

 **Starforce** : "That man died in 1990." (beat) "Why are you doing this, Tara? Especially after I told you what I've done?"

 **Lady Blue** : "Because I need you to be something you haven't been since then."

 **Starforce** : "A man?"

 **Lady Blue** : "Alive." (beat) "So you can do what needs to be done to correct history."

 **Starforce** : "What's done is done, Tara! Don't build up my hope like this!" (beat, tears) "We CAN'T change history!"

 **Lady Blue** : "Istvatha V'Han already *did*, Bob! We're trying to CORRECT history!"

(she starts taking her clothes off)

 **Lady Blue** : "Don't you get it? You have a second chance to set right what went wrong so long ago!"

(naked, she straddles Bob)

 **Lady Blue** : "Just like *we* have a second chance tonight."

(she turns off the light)

* * *

(Motel 6 Parking Lot. The next morning. Ted and Captain Chronos are eyeing the door to Tara and Bob's room)

 **Ranger** : "Are they OK?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "They're fine. Give them a few..."

(the door opens. Bob and Lady Blue step out. Bob seems to be standing straighter than he had been all yesterday)

 **Starforce** : "Let's do this."

(there is a snap to his voice that hadn't been there when he was released from Stronghold yesterday)

 **Captain Chronos** : "Before we go, you're going to need something."

(he nods to Ted, who presents Bob with the duffel bag slung over his shoulder)

 **Ranger** : "Captain Chronos got this for you, all the way from 1990."

(Bob opens the duffel bag and gasps. Beat, then he starts to pull out his Mark III battlesuit from the late 1980's/early 1990's)

 **Starforce** : "Where did you find this?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "PRIMUS Impound, two days after you were subdued back in 1990."

 **Starforce** (rubbing his hand over a crack in the mask's visor): "So no repairs have been made to it, then?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "No."

 **Starforce** : "Will we have time for Tara to make repairs?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "No."

 **Ranger** (to Captain Chronos): "You're a time elemental and we know *when* we need to go! Why CAN'T we give them the time to repair his suit?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "You wouldn't understand if I told you."

(beat, then Ted sighs)

 **Ranger** (to Starforce): "Will there be any problems if you wear it?"

 **Starforce** : "Probably." (handles a partially-burnt forcefield module from his belt) "I got hammered pretty bad in the last moments of the fight at Dayton. Something might go off-line at an inopprotune moment."

(tense pause)

 **Ranger** : "That's a risk we'll have to take."

 **Lady Blue** : "Ted, no..."

 **Ranger** (interrupting, to Bob): "Suit up."

 **Starforce** : "On it, boss."

 **Lady Blue** : "Bob, NO! You don't have to do this..."

 **Starforce** (suiting up): "The souls of 30,000 people -- and a family that I will never know -- demand that I do."

* * *

(Stanton Mansion, Oakwood OH. After sunset, sometime in September 1990)

(there is a flash of light! -- and Captain Chronos appears in the back yard with Ranger, Old!Starforce, and Lady Blue)

 **Lady Blue** (beat): "Why does the air look funny?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "I have us in a bubble frozen in a moment of time so General Jameson can conduct reconnaissance." (beat) "That *was* one of your central tenets of superheroic combat, wasn't it?"

 **Ranger** : "Glad to know your century hasn't forgotten them."

(they look around. Clint Stanton is motionless, his video camera aimed at something in his pool. There is a brilliant spark of light directly overhead)

 **Lady Blue** (focusing on the spark of light with her onboard sensors): "That's Bob!"

 **Old!Starforce** : "Just before I got hit by the energy blast."

 **Ranger** : "Where did it come from?"

(Old!Starforce looks around the grounds for a moment, then points toward some bushes and trees toward the back property line)

 **Old!Starforce** : "There."

 **Lady Blue** : "Hm. Now WHY is there an energy field just in front of those bushes?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "It's a chameleon blind. Standard-issue tech for V'Hanian special operations teams."

 **Ranger** : "Invisibility?"

 **Captain Chronos** : "And standard forcefield-class protection." (beat) "If it's taken down, it will re-establish itself in two seconds."

 **Lady Blue** (looking at Old!Starforce): "Should be able to get inside of it within that window, don't you think?"

 **Old!Starforce** : "As long as my battlesuit keeps working."

 **Ranger** (to Captain Chronos, crouching in a runner's start): "On my command, drop your time bubble." (looks at Lady Blue and Old!Starforce) "Tara, Bob, you know what to do when the chameleon field goes down."

 **Old!Starforce** : "Let's finish the mission, Ranger."

(Ranger smiles sadly)

 **Ranger** (to Captain Chronos): "NOW!"

(the air around them stops looking funny. There is a sharp BOOM! across the grounds of Stanton Mansion as Ranger vanishes and reappears out of the Speed Zone five meters away, and a white-haired, blue-skinned female humanoid in a jumpsuit suddenly appears by the bushes and trees along the back property line. She has a targeting eyepiece over one eye, and is aiming an arm at the shooting star plummeting from the sky toward the swimming pool)

(Old!Starforce flash-steps in the way of V'Han just as she fires at 1990!Starforce. Only Lady Blue notices that he deliberately shuts his forcefield down at the moment of impact. Old!Starforce is transfixed by the blast, electricity crawling over his body as his battlesuit shorts out)

 **V'Han** : "No!"

 **Lady Blue** (simultaneously with V'Han): "NO!!"

(Old!Starforce falls to the ground, his body and what's left of his battlesuit smoking)

(Force projection system switched to STR and Hand-to-hand damage, Lady Blue flash-steps in front of V'Han and connects with an offensive strike for 50 STUN, CON-stunning V'Han and knocking her back against a tree trunk)

(the shooting star hits the pool like a lightning bolt. While water is still exploding everywhere across the back of the Stanton estate, 1990!Starforce appears above it, Julie's body draped over one shoulder. The expression on his face is frightening to behold as he hits Clint with a forcebeam, blasting him through both pool furniture and the tiki bar before he slams to a stop against the retainer wall)

 **Ranger** (murmured): "Damn..."

(1990!Starforce flash-steps to the pool deck, and his forcebeams at much lower power liberate Julie's legs from the remaining ropes and weights. Beat, then he attempts mouth-to-mouth on her before looking at her motionless body for another second)

 **1990!Starforce** (screaming): "BREATHE, DAMN YOU!!"

(Julie convulses in his grip)

 **1990!Ladyhawk** (gasping): "I'm breathing!"

(Ranger glances over to where their Starforce's body had been. There is nothing there to indicate there had ever been a superhero, alive or dead. He then looks at Captain Chronos, who is staring at numerous holographic screens over his left arm that are turning from red to green. They make eye contact, and Captain Chronos nods)

(Lady Blue still has Istvatha V'Han pinned to the ground with one hand. Her forcebeams are building to discharge in her other hand)

 **Lady Blue** (hissing, to V'Han): "Give me one good reason that I shouldn't end your fucking life RIGHT NOW, bitch!"

 **V'Han** : "Who was Dr. Hawkins to you, Lady Blue, to engender such strong feelings?"

 **Lady Blue** (beat): "None of your damn business."

 **V'Han** : "If you were that in love with him, why did you come back in time to save the woman he actually loved? He could have been yours, instead."

 **Lady Blue** (angry, putting the palm of her other hand on V'Han's face): "Shut. UP!"

 **Captain Chronos** : "Dr. Lemick? Stand down!"

(beat, then Lady Blue powers her forcebeams down. Switching her force projection systems to TK, she levitates away from V'Han while still keeping her pinned to the ground)

 **V'Han** (to Captain Chronos): "Hzl Mgn. Why would you protect such primitives as these, four millenia in your past? You *know* my rule would benefit them."

 **Captain Chronos** : "Because this dimension -- and its history -- are under MY protection. Challenge *that* at your mortal peril."

(tense pause, held gaze)

 **Captain Chronos** : "The next time you attempt to change this dimension's past, Istvatha V'Han, will be your last. THIS is my promise to you."

 **V'Han** : "Have a care who you threaten, Time Elemental. I can afford to be patient."

 **Captain Chronos** (smiling unpleasantly): "Not when I know how your story ENDS."

(beat, then with a pinkish flash, V'Han vanishes)

(Lady Blue looks over to 1990!Starforce and Julie holding each other at the edge of the pool)

 **Lady Blue** (whispered, tears in her eyes): "At least Bob got his second chance..."

(Ranger puts a hand on her shoulder. She puts a hand over his, crying)

 **Captain Chronos** (whispered): "Time to go home, guys."

* * *

(Stately Dormyer Manor Mark II, Lakewood Village, TX. Main timeline, the next day)

(Shina Arikawa is driving Bob and Julie back from ProStar. The SUV is already on Stowe Lane, approaching the driveway)

 **Shina** : "That reminds me. I caught Jillian hacking the house server earlier this afternoon."

 **Starforce** : "Second time this week."

 **Ladyhawk** : "She seems to have a gift with computers."

 **Starforce** : "I just hope Holo-D didn't put her up to it..."

(Shina turns onto the driveway. Everyone sees the glowing, blonde female in a blue-green jumpsuit underneath the portico at the same time)

 **Starforce** : "What the HELL?"

 **Ladyhawk** : "Stand down, Nerd-boy. My Danger Sense isn't going off."

(Lady Blue watches the SUV pull under the portico. Her eyes appear moist, as if she had been or is crying)

 **Starforce** : "What does she want?"

 **Shina** : "Perhaps you should ask her?"

(Bob looks at Shina, then at Julie)

 **Ladyhawk** : "Still not going off."

 **Starforce** (beat): "Okay, then."

(Bob gets out of the SUV and stands by its door, looking at Lady Blue. It's not until Julie joins him that she walks up to them)

 **Starforce** : "Tara? What's wrong?"

(tears in her eyes, Lady Blue takes a free hand from both Bob and Julie)

 **Lady Blue** : "I think both of you deserve to know what I just got done doing over the last 24 hours."

* * *

(to be concluded)


	3. After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #### DRAMATIS PERSONAE
> 
> **heroes**
> 
>   * Dr. Bob Hawkins (AKA Starforce), Senior Research Scientist for ProStar, disgustingly-powerful power-armor wearer/gadgeteer
>   * LGEN Theodore Jameson, Jr. (AKA Ranger), Director of PRIMUS
>   * Masahara Yoshihiro (AKA Tetsuronin), CEO of Masahara Industries, disgustingly-powerful power-armor wearer/gadgeteer
> 

> 
> **villains**
> 
>   * Sergei Varinnikov (AKA Warlord), President-for-Life of the Republic of Central Asia, disgustingly-powerful power-armor wearer
> 

> 
> **others**
> 
>   * Alexander Shumeykin, Major, Central Asian Space Force, Director of UNTIL's Project Citadel
> 

> 
> * * *

(Control Room, Excalibur North Moonbase. Two months later)

(Bob 'Starforce' Hawkins stands in a futuristic control room, flatscreens surrounding him on all sides, dressed comfortably in jeans and a t-shirt, hands in his pockets)

 **Ranger** (from a flatscreen to his right): "Excalibur Control, status?"

 **Starforce** : "Weapons hot. Excalibur South slaved to Excalibur North control. Awaiting target designation."

(Sergei 'Warlord' Varinnikov is in the CIC of a crude warship, as evidenced by a flatscreen to Bob's left. The image is very low-quality and occasionally pixellates like a satellite TV signal in a rainstorm)

 **Warlord** : "Do you know how hard it is to remain stealthy while designating targets in the vicinity of Saturn?"

 **Starforce** : "Cry on somebody else's shoulder, Sergei. You should have been aware of the bandwith limitations on that quantum entanglement comm tech when you stole it from ProStar last year."

 **Tetsuronin** (from a flatscreen to the right): "Children? Behave."

(Major Alexander Shumeykin, director of UNTIL's Project Citadel, is on one of the center flatscreens. He shakes his head at the banter between his three greatest tech assets)

 **Shumeykin** : "Dr. Hawkins, thank you once again for coming forward as the Benefactor and working with us."

 **Starforce** : "Thank Istvatha V'Han. She went and made it personal with me." (beat, a flare of anger in his eyes) "BIG mistake."

 **Shumeykin** : "All the technical heroes are done at your depots?"

 **Starforce** : "Last one took off from Excalibur South an hour ago."

 **Shumeykin** : "Good" (looking off to one side on the flatscreen) "President Varinnikov. Are you SURE about the readings you're detecting around the V'Hanian fleet?"

 **Warlord** : "Positive. It's a V'Hanian dimensional portal on Saturn's moon Dione, energy signature consistent with the portal on Phobos in 1998, but the ships in orbit around Dione are *much* more powerful!"

 **Starforce** : "Told you they'd build a stronger fleet than their 1998 one..."

 **Warlord** (interrupting): "Stand by. Something's happening."

(tense pause)

 **Shumeykin** : "President Varinnikov..."

 **Warlord** : "V'Hanian fleet is breaking orbit. Repeat, V'Hanian fleet is breaking orbit!"

 **Shumeykin** : "Have they seen you?"

 **Warlord** : "Negative."

 **Shumeykin** : "Start painting targets and relaying solutions to Excalibur Control."

 **Warlord** : "Acknowledged."

 **Ranger** (from flatscreen): "They waited two weeks before advancing on Earth this time."

 **Tetsuronin** : "Which puts the Mandaarian and Ixendaran Starfleets a week out and the Varanyi Battle Line *four* weeks out from reinforcing us this time around." (beat) "Relax, General Jameson. Their caution has played into our hands."

 **Shumeykin** : "With Athulos Starheart, a full third of the Star*Guard, and three Galaxars augmenting Tetsuronin's drone fighters waiting for the survivors in Earth orbit, we're already doing better than we were in 1998! And that's BEFORE the rest of our superheroes join the battle!"

(tense pause)

 **Warlord** : "Robert! Do you have the targets?"

(Bob scans his consoles)

 **Starforce** : "Locked and loaded. You might want to clear my firing arcs."

 **Warlord** : "Done." (beat) "The honor of first blood is yours, brother."

(tense pause)

 **Starforce** (murmured): "For you, Tara."

(Bob presses the big red button on his center console)

* * *

(fin)


End file.
